View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who does Dillard think gravitates towards the field of botany?
(a) truly ethical thinkers
(b) those who don't like people
(c) people who were raised in rural areas
(d) no one in particular

2. When Dillard raps on the goldfish bowl, what does the fish do?
(a) dive to the bottom
(b) swim to the surface
(c) stays perfectly still for ten seconds
(d) swims around the bowl three times

3. Why did early Eskimos love winter?
(a) they like to celebrate winter soltice
(b) the seals are easier to kill
(c) the whales are closer to shore
(d) it is a time to use their sleds to visit other Eskimos

4. When a scientist disrupted pine caterpillars' food trail, what happened?
(a) the caterpillars could not restart a new trail
(b) they turned around and followed their trail back home
(c) they stopped, and stayed still until they died
(d) half of caterpillars made a new trail off to the right

5. How does Dillard think of Tinker Creek in the first chapter?
(a) that she'd rather live somewhere else
(b) as a scary, mysterious place
(c) as an anchor that keeps her steady in the current of life
(d) as a place that time forgot

Short Answer Questions

1. How are ladybugs shipped to gardeners?

2. How long can a horsehair worm grow?

3. What does Dillard suggest is a similarity between her and plankton?

4. How do humans insulate themselves from the present, according to the author?

5. What does Dillard believe is healing?

Short Essay Questions

1. Dillard thinks about arctic explorations, which use the term "northing," to denote traveling in a northerly direction. How does she see "northing" in her own life?

2. What does Dillard believe about flowing water?

3. Dillard writes a mystical account of a real encounter with a goldfinch. Briefly describe what she wrote.

4. Describe the two ways of seeing, according to Dillard.

5. What is kayak sickness?

6. Dillard discusses the concept of the world as being "old and ragged." How does she relate that to the natural world and her own life?

7. Dillard spends the entire chapter dealing with the passing of a hurricane. How does the theme of "floods" relate to other parts of the book?

8. What is are augenblicks and how what does Dillard do with them?

9. Dillard still rails against the seeming cruelty of nature; however, what else is she seeing by Chapter 13?

10. Dillard uses stories from the pre-modern Eskimo culture throughout this book. Why do you think she connects so strongly with this culture?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,246 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample